McTear & Williams v Engelhard & Others

Reference

Date

24 May 2016

Court

Facts

Management contracts – Adjustment of prior transactions – CVA – Breach of fiduciary duty – Equitable and Insolvency Set-Off

Relief from sanctions -  Extensions of time - Late service of witness statements – Amendments – Expert evidence 

Jonathan Lopian represented the defendants in their successful appeal against the decisions of the trial judge (see [2014] EWHC 722 (Ch) and [2014] EWHC 1056 (Ch))

The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge was wrong to have refused to grant the defendants relief from sanction in respect of the late service of their witness statements and wrong to have refused permission for the defendants to rely on newly discovered documents, and it ordered a re-trial before a new judge. The Court of Appeal also considered, without needing to decide the matter, that the defendants should have been allowed to rely on a defence of set-off and that a witness excluded by the judge on the grounds that he was an expert should not have been excluded. 

Comment

Click here to view Times Law Reports 2 June 2016

Click here to read related article

Click here to view judgment

Hansells were the instructing solicitors